Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Blueberries

We went blueberry picking for the first time and it was so fun!  Minus the fact that we had to go when Derek was working, he was pretty sad and we missed him tons AND it was our 9 year anniversary, so extra sad!  

We found the perfect local place, Little Hill Berry Farm.  They are certified organic, which is no easy feat, and are owned by the sweetest and friendliest couple!  I love their story.  Some of the blueberry farms we saw didn't like kids picking, but these guys encourage you to try their berries and are very family friendly.  The blueberries were absolutely the best blueberries I've ever eaten and they have seven different varieties!  Which got me wondering about the berries in the store, they're not labeled with what variety they are, so what are we eating?  Now I know what blueberries should taste like.  They're much more fun to pick than strawberries, just because you can get a whole bunch with one pick.  Also, the bushes are taller and being 36 weeks pregnant, this helped a ton!  We also went with some blueberry lovin friends and had such a great morning, it was beautiful out!

I cannot wait until next summer to really stock up on these awesome blueberries, they lasted about a week in our house.








Hakan's blueberry birthday pie...his face says it all!


Saturday, July 19, 2014

Hakan's 5th and Adeline's 3rd Pirate and Princess Birthday Party

Hakan wanted a pirate party and Adeline wanted a  princess party, so we combined them.  I realize eventually they'll want separate parties, but it so much easier this way, and pirates and princesses kind of go together, right?


I made some wands, tiaras, pirate hats, eye patches and telescopes for the party goers.  


I made Adeline a super poofy and fun princess tutu.


Derek made apple cider donuts, love love love!


My favorite part of having parties is having people over and feeding them :)  We love making good food, the most important part of a party, in our opinion.  Also, balloons, I love balloons!






I made Hakan's pirate "5" shirt.


Daddy made the yummy cake!







It was a beautiful and fun day!  We are so thankful for our family and friends that helped us celebrate our two awesome kids! 

Monday, July 14, 2014

Time away at Lake Las Vegas

Leaving MN
Our vacations together include going back to ND or before it was sold, to the cabin (both with kids of course) and before kids, our honeymoon nine years ago.  So we decided to go on vacation just the two of us, what?!  It actually took us months to decide where we wanted to go and could afford to go, plus figuring out the logistics of who was watching our kids and how they were getting there.  We finally got it all figured out and Derek found Lake Las Vegas, which is about 20 minutes outside of Las Vegas.  Derek goes to Vegas every December for a conference, but I had never been.  We stayed at the Westin on Lake Las Vegas, it was pretty nice, with two pools, a sandy beach, kayaking, and a yummy brunch on the weekends.  It was super great not staying on the Strip, as we don't smoke, gamble or drink...so not really our scene, but we did spend one day there, really interesting and I'm glad I experienced it.  

When we flew in, it was 106 degrees, the hottest day we were there.  We checked out some stores and napped at our hotel, because we could :)  The rest of the days weren't too bad temperature wise, still warm, but bearable. 

We did the touristy thing and went to Hoover Dam, which is really crazy interesting.  It's just insane how many ingenious things they did way back in 1931 that all just worked.  And the fact that it was built in just two years, the thing is ginormous!  Lake Mead is right there and a beautiful body of water.

We sat by the pool and read, went swimming and kayaking a bunch, ate good food and even met up with my childhood best friend who lives in Vegas, so fun!  

Our favorite part...no schedules.  We did what we wanted, when we wanted, it was WONDERFUL!  We slept in a little, ate dinner late, watched HGTV (we don't have cable or satellite) and went to bed late :)  It was just us, super fun and good for our marriage.  Of course we missed our kids like crazy and every time we saw other kids or kid's activities, we would think, "Hakan and Adeline would love this!"  They had a blast in ND with Derek's mom and cousins and we face-timed with them almost every day. 

We did come to the conclusion that we don't ever think we could live in the desert...like ever.  We like the color green too much.  Flying back to MN and looking out the window was beautiful.  Not that the desert isn't pretty, just a different kind of pretty and maybe not for us. 

30 weeks
I really really love this man!  And he really doesn't like selfies ;)
 



At one time the water was as high as the white rock, it's super low right now.


Derek visited Arizona for the first time while at Hoover Dam, and loved me making him take a picture ;)
Lake Mead

First time eating here...have to say I like 5 guys better.

We decided to splurge just one time on a meal and ate at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant, Cut...not cheap, but it was good.  We were also under dressed and I think our waiter kind of pre-judged us as not heavy spenders, rightly so I guess, but kind of rude.


This pizza!  So so good, from Five50 Pizza Bar at the Aria.  And one of my favorite things, a frozen hot chocolate from Serendipity (you can actually order your own mix here, it's awesome!)

On the Strip, everyone on the sidewalks we passed stared at this belly, even got some shouts like, "About ready to pop!" "Any day now!" "Whoa!"  Yeah, 10 weeks left...

Famous Bellagio Fountains



Our only non-selfie or alone picture, but we got one!


Look at all those vintage sewing machines, love!


On the red eye, home sweet home, green green green :)
Can't wait for our next vacation...hopefully not too long!